Now that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has granted permission to the Cowlitz Tribe to establish a reservation and build a casino near La Center, Northwesterners should hope the proverbial other shoe doesn’t fall before Jan. 10. A decade-long quest by The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs to build a large casino in the Columbia River Gorge has reached a critical point, with a deadline of sorts looming as Oregon prepares to install a new governor. And while the political wrangling is entirely on the Oregon side of the river, the debate is relevant to Clark County residents when we recall that the Gorge also belongs to Washington.
Some background:
The Warm Springs tribes have proposed a 90,000-square-foot casino, 241-room hotel and 26,000-square-foot convention center for a site in Cascade Locks, Ore. The site would be nestled along the Columbia River in one of the most scenic areas of the country.
In August, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs released its final environmental impact statement regarding the casino, declaring that an industrial park in Cascade Locks is the preferred site for the monstrosity.
On Jan. 10, John Kitzhaber will succeed Ted Kulongoski as governor of Oregon. Kulongoski has been a supporter of the proposed casino, while Kitzhaber — when he was governor from 1995-2003 — has opposed it.
Because of that, advocates on both sides of the issue are treating this as crunch time for the proposal. Advocates know they are running out of time before Kitzhaber takes office; critics are holding their breath until that happens.
The group Friends of the Columbia Gorge (http://www.gorgefriends.org/), which has long and properly opposed the casino, has initialized a last-minute fundraising drive in order to forge a propaganda and legal assault against the proposal.
As The Columbian has stated many times over the years, a large casino would threaten or forever alter the natural beauty and pristine scenery of the Gorge, which not only provides gorgeous vistas but also helps foster residents’ extraordinary respect for nature. By itself, a Gorge casino would not eliminate that respect. But it would chip away at the special relationship the people of the Northwest have with one of their signature landmarks, creating a sense that no place on Earth is sacred and no region is so special as to not be spoiled by the intrusion of humans.
As Oregon Congressman David Wu said, “A gambling casino does not belong in any of America’s uniquely spectacular natural landscapes, and it is utterly absurd that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has recommended siting a casino in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.” While the proposal would place the casino on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, we might remind the congressman that it also is Washington’s Gorge, and that Washingtonians would be deeply affected by a monument to human excess right across the river.
A casino in the Gorge makes no more sense than a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Columbia River estuary, a proposal we also opposed and one that met it deserved demise in 2009. The success of such casinos — Spirit Mountain in Grande Ronde is Oregon’s No. 1 tourist attraction — is self-evident. And yet that success comes with an unacceptable price to the community whose quality of life it diminishes.
